Too Much of a Good Thing
If you were a 5′ 6″ man, would you try to pass yourself off as 5′ 9″?
I wouldn’t condone it — but I’d at least understand it.
But why would a 6′ 5″ man say he was 6′ 9″ — unless, perhaps, he was an NBA player?
In a nutshell, that was my reaction showing a Plymouth home earlier today that appeared to be well below its stated 4,600 finished square feet (to my eye, at least 15% below).
Not only does such an . . . . uh, exaggeration hurt the Seller’s credibility with prospective Buyers, it actually limits the pool of such Buyers.
That’s because there are a lot more people in the market for a 3,800 square foot house than a 4,600 square foot house.
P.S.: The one exception I’m aware of to pro basketball players tending to pad their height is Bill Walton, the former UCLA and NBA great.
Self-conscious about being so tall, he reportedly gave his height as 6′ 11″ instead of the 7′-plus he really is.
At least, that’s the story I heard when I was a Stanford undergrad, and Walton was at the Law School (I’d see him on campus occasionally, and he certainly looked 7′-plus. More often, I’d just see his gigantic bike in front of the Law School).
Exaggerating the square footage by such a large amount will certainly create distrust for most potential buyers. I for one would be pretty upset if I didn't find out until after closing that I'd actually gotten 15% less square footage than I thought.